Review: Lying With Lions by Annabel Fielding

Posted June 26, 2021 by Stephanie in Historical Fiction, Review / 6 Comments

Title: Lying With Lions
Author: Annabel Fielding
Publication: June 20, 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction
Find it on: Amazon
Rating: 3/5

Edwardian England. Agnes Ashford knows that her duty is threefold: she needs to work on cataloguing the archive of the titled Bryant family, she needs to keep the wounds of her past tightly under wraps, and she needs to be quietly grateful to her employers for taking her up in her hour of need. However, a dark secret she uncovers due to her work thrusts her into the Bryants’ brilliant orbit – and into the clutch of their ambitions.

They are prepared to take the new century head-on and fight for their preeminent position and political survival tooth and nail – and not just to the first blood. With a mix of loyalty, competence, and well-judged silence Agnes rises to the position of a right-hand woman to the family matriarch – the cunning and glamorous Lady Helen. But Lady Helen’s plans to hold on to power through her son are as bold as they are cynical, and one day Agnes is going to face an impossible choice…

As usual with a three star book I have a bit of a hard time reviewing it. Lying With Lions wasn’t a bad read at all and I did enjoy some aspects of it but I also didn’t end up loving it as much as I would’ve wanted. I feel kinda caught between the liking and disliking feeling. So I’m going to review it in this kinda manner.

What I liked about the book:

The beautiful way it was written was actually my favorite thing in the whole book. The author clearly has a great talent for it and almost couldn’t get enough of that. I also really liked that the story had a lesbian relationship between Agnes and Lady Helen in it because we need to have more of that, especially in historical fiction. And I enjoyed that it was set in Edwardian England because the early 1900’s fascinate me.

What I disliked about the book:

The book had a great start but somewhere along the way the story started losing me because a lot was going on with the characters and the many scandals. I felt like there were many little plots going on and eventually that starts getting confusing. I also didn’t really care a lot for the characters even if I did like Agnes and Helen’s relationship.

 

Set in Edwardian England, Lying With Lions is a story that definitely catches the readers attention. The prose is beautiful and it’s a page-turner. Personally I wanted to connect more with the characters but even so it does have a lot of good things going for the story. It just didn’t end up being a favorite for me.

About the author:

Annabel Fielding, having graduated from the University of Arts London with an MA in Public Relations, is a PR assistant by day and a novelist by night. Being a self-professed history geek, she dedicates her free time to obscure biographies, solo travel and tea. She also posts a mix of book reviews and travel photos on her blog at historygeekintown.com. She can also be followed on Twitter as @DearestAnnabel.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

 

6 responses to “Review: Lying With Lions by Annabel Fielding

  1. I agree, it’s much easier to write reviews for books you absolutely love or absolutely hate! I appreciate you outlining what you did and didn’t like about it.

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)